Zach's Freedom
by Radical Musician
Summary: Zach's life pretty much sucks, then he finds his way into the world of LOTR! He joins the fellowship and finds himself drawn toward a certain elf. How will things turn out or is it all just a dream? LxOC 1st fanfic, please no flames WARNING: slash
1. Chapter 1

Hello there, this happens to be my first fanfic EVER

I just wanted to say thank you for clicking and sorry if there are typos, I write late at night and don't have a beta. Sorry for short chapters MOVING ON: please read and review, I'd love to get feed back on anything, Thnx

Disclaimer: would I be here if I did own it?

Zachary wanted nothing more than freedom and hope.

Growing up had been quite a challenge for him and his mother. She had always wanted a girl, a child who she could dress up in frilly, pink dresses and go out on walks with, being complimented on how precious and darling was her little girl. Zach was a bit of a disappointment to her truly. His father had not cared if he was a boy or girl, he just wanted a child to call his own. Zach was closer to his father and was more heartbroken than his mother when he was killed in a car wreck.

Soon after, the neglect from his mother was just not something he could forgive. She never cried, never spoke to him, was always out late and often came home drunk. The responsibility of his life rested in his own hands. Not even six months had passed before she remarried a man she met frequently on her night outings. Then she threw out all the pictures of his father, as if she wanted to forget Zach's father even existed. The only things she never got rid of were her rings, the pictures Zach hid from her and Zach himself.

Three months after the wedding, Zach learned he would become an older brother. His mother had finally gotten the daughter she had always wanted. She practically forgot Zach all together. His stepfather wasn't everything Zach thought he would be. He didn't disregard Zach as another mouth to feed or just some person living in his house. He tried his best to make Zach feel like he was apart of the family and not push him away, as his mother had. But he would always love little baby Mallory more; he would be nothing more than the man who tried to take his father's place to Zach.

At school, what began as friendships in freshman and sophomore year turned into duds the next. Zach found his friends falling into cliché clicks and other things. They left him alone at lunch more and more often in favor of more socially acceptable friends. Zach wasn't all that awkward. He was just hiding, hiding that fact he kinda like guys more than girls. It happened second semester of sophomore year. He had strange felling for one of his friends and it didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on. He was smart and knew what would happen if anyone found out. He might just kill himself and be done with it. Nobody knew though, and no one would guess. Not even his family knew. His mom would just want to get ride of him that much more and it would probably drive his stepfather away from him completely.

He wasn't bad looking. He didn't have acne exploding all over his face, only one or two. His hair wasn't greasy, no dandruff. His wasn't lanky but he wasn't built. He was just average. Nothing about him stood out and nothing was out of the ordinary except for his preferences.

So it happened by chance, where our story begins.

He was walking down one of the many empty halls of school going toward another day at an empty table in the cafeteria when he heard a faint noise. It wasn't a person's voice but it sounded like humming. he followed it for two reasons: he truly had nothing better to do and it captured his senses more than he'd like to admit to. He walked down the hall that had been empty for quite awhile. The soft melody washed over him again. It carried him toward an empty room ever so lightly. When the full tune caught his ears, it sounded if he was in the hills of Ireland. Then came the voice:

"The river flows gently full of life

To near and far lands of toil and strife

It passes a field, sod with blood

And washed it away as white as a dove"

Never had he heard a voice like this. It wasn't a woman's, not like his mother's when she sang Mallory to sleep. It wasn't gruff and deep like a man's should be. It was light and somber, soft but present, silent but loud. It felt as though it pierced his soul, made him want to cry, laugh, sing, dance, yell out of anger, out of pain, or just to be heard. This voice took hold of him and he was calm.

Fog surrounded him and he fell into drowsiness. He collapsed on the floor in one swift, ungrateful motion as if his legs had turned to jelly. His heavy lids closed over his eyes and his breathing slowed. And he fell into a dreamless sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello again, I probably won't be updating this frequently, I just had a bunch written before hand. And now comes the part with actual characters and not some I made up, yay. There may be butchering of the elvish language, so please bear with me, translations will b at the bottom of the page. Please R+R, I know you don't like to (neither do i) but if you have anything to say, it would help tons. Now without further ado, I present chapter two (hehe, I rhymed)

Disclaimer: nothing has changed in regards to my ownership of LOTR in the past 24 hours

When Zach woke up, he was outside and there was the voice. He opened his eyes to look for its owner, but was met by blinding sunlight. He rolled over on to his stomach and looked at the ground. It was carpeted in the most lush, green, fresh grass he had ever seen. Silence fell on his ears in the open space. He looked around and to his surprise, it was more closed off than the originally thought it to be.

Tall white trees appeared as towers of silver in the midday light. It seemed deserted; the trees covered with empty staircases and unlit lanterns. He looked around again and saw movement high in the trees. Elegant creature, too beautiful to be human populated the silver towers. They were covered in clothes as elegant as themselves and beautiful as the forest that surrounded them.

He took in a long, deep breath and found it crisp and fresh, not like smoke and grim that coated the air at home. Home. Where was he? Zach's heartbeat began to pick up pace as he felt panic rise in him. This was nowhere he had been before. Was it even real? Was he going crazy? Silence was broken as he heard footsteps behind him. Only the slightest ear could hear it, it was so soft and light. It was by chance Zach heard it amongst the pounding of his own heart.

Slowly he turned around to find an arrow aimed for his rushing heart. One of the people from the trees had found him. "Ya naa lee?" That voice!

"You were singing earlier…" he said so quietly, he thought he wasn't heard.

"Manke naa lle tuulo'? Mani naa essa en lle? Mankoi naa lle sinome?" The questions came in a flood, in what sounded like gibberish to Zach. He couldn't answer any of them and was just as confused as the person in front of him.

"Where am I?' Zach asked, helplessly.

"You are in the realm of the Lady of the Wood," the stranger answered in English.

"Legolas," another person yelled. _That's such a weird name. _"Who is this?'

"I don' know, but he appears to be from a strange land."

"Where am I?" Zach asked again. The other man standing near to "Legolas" seemed to understand that Zach was not a threat. He was wilder in appearance than the other. Brown, messy hair fell to his shoulders. Stubble lined his jaw. His clothes were worn, but he held himself with pride and authority.

"You, my very confused friend, are in Lothlorien," the man answered.

"Aragorn," Legolas whispered harshly.

"Legolas, seere. Your senses have been a little off since Moria. He is not a threat, just lost."

"Thank you," Zach said quietly he thought once again that he was not heard. This Aragorn looked pretty nice, but not his type. Besides, he probably had a girl waiting for him somewhere.

"I apologize for my rudeness and accusations against you. Please accept my apology…" he pause and Zach realized he never gave his name.

"Uh…Zach."

"Zach. Well, Zach, where are you from?" The moment he said Zach's name, he was captivated. His mind went blank and all he could think about was just how beautiful this man Legolas was. His ears opened to the world again, just barely catching what Legolas had said.

"I'm from Los Angeles."

"Los Angeles?" Aragorn questioned. "Strange name. You must be quiet a ways from home. How did you find yourself here?"

"I was hoping you could tell me that," he said, barely smiling. He could already tell that he would get along just fine with this Aragorn.

"Well Zach, I have no knowledge of how you came to be here, but maybe I know someone who does." Aragorn gestured from him to follow.

As he fell into step behind Aragorn, he heard the song's melody once again. Turning he head slowly around, he saw Legolas' mouth moving to the words and tune. His eyes wondered their surroundings before ice blue eyes fell upon Zach's and he turned his head back toward Aragorn. The voice had stopped, but he had found the voice that had so easily captured him so easily, and he had no intention of losing it.

Translations:

Ya naa lee? – Who are you?

Manke naa lle tuulo' – Where are you from?

Mani naa essa en lle – What is your name?

Mankoi naa lee sinome - Why are you here?

Seere – Peace


	3. Chapter 3

Hello again. I am so sorry for not updating sooner. If you haven't figured out by now, I'm kinda a procrastinator. That, and I'm a freshmen and can only exempt one final…that was fun. Now that summer is here I hope I can get these chapters out quicker and get past my writers block. I wrote this chapter along with 2, so I don't know why I didn't post it sooner. Well enough of my rambling, on with the story.

Legolas wasn't his normal self. Mines were no place for people of the forest. The sacrifice of Gandalf had shaken all of them. But he was not so disoriented as to not sense the presence of another near by. Quietly, he had been singing a warriors lament in honor of the Grey Wizard. It was a song of men and so in the language of men.

He looked around to confirm he was alone and then began to sing.

Both armies were matched and equally slain,

No one gave in, not matter the pain.

But this could not last, no matter how strong,

The men were all tired and could not go on

The river flows gently, full of life

To near and far land of struggle and strife

It passed by the field, sod with blood

And washed it away, in honor and love

A gust of wind blew his hair around his face. On the air was the scent of another close by. _How? How could someone get so close to me with me knowing? _

His scent was human, but pleasant and clean. Maneuvering around the tree he sat by, he saw a young boy lying in the grass. His short, dirty blond hair and strange clothes stood out among the forest of elves. The stranger stood and looked around, marveling at he wonder surrounding him. Whether or not he was an enemy, he knew he had to protect the home of his brethren. Slowly, he began to approach the stranger, whose back was turned to him. But his steps were heavier than normal. As soon as Legolas realized he'd been heard, he armed and raised his arrow at eh boy's cheats. When he turned around, he faltered for a second as dark, brown eyes widened in fear.

"Ya naa lle?" Now the boy just looked confused and then appeared to remember something, for his eyes then looked at Legolas with realization.

"You were singing earlier…" It was barely above a whisper, but enough for the elf to hear. _How long has he been here? _

"Manke naa lee tuuto'? Mani maa essa en lla? Mankoi naa lle sinome? He just continued to lokk confused and scared.

"Where am I?" his voice was soft and timid, in the language of man.

"You are in the realm of the Lady of the Wood."

"Legolas." Aragorn came rushing behind him. "Who is this?" The same look of confusion had crossed his face before he turned stoic again.

"I do not know, but he appears to be from a strange land," Legolas stated.

"Where am I?" the boy repeated. This time Aragorn chose to respond.

"You, my very confused friend, are in Lothlorien."

"Aragorn." He whispered heavily. Legolas didn't knkow why his friend so easily gave this stranger information. True, it would have not made a difference. _The boy does not even know where he is. Then again, the enemy can be very cunning. _

"Legolas, seere." It was clear then, Aragorn trusted this stranger. "your senses have been a little off since Moria." While he knew it was true, it was a bit embarrassing to be corrected in the presence of a stranger.

"Thank you," the boy whispered. Legolas then realized how scared his boy probably was, and he had made it worse.

"Please, forgive me of my actions earlier. I'm truly sorry…" he paused, remembering he had not received a name from the boy.

"Uh…Zach."

"Zach. Where are you from?" He tried to be polite to make up for the guilt he now felt for the scared boy. It took Zach a minute to answer and Legolas was not sure he had been heard.

But Zach finally answered, "Los Angeles."

"Los Angeles? Strange name," Aragorn said. "You must be far from home. How did you get here?"

"I was hoping you could tell me," Zach replied. A small, helpless smile rose from the corners of his mouth.

"Well Zach, I have no knowledge of how you came to be here, but maybe I know someone who does." Legolas knew whom Aragorn was thinking of and silently agreed with his friend. _If she doesn't know, the surly no one would._

Zach now followed behind the ranger on the path to see the most fair, wise elf of the wood. Legolas felt the song he had sung for Gandalf's memory return to him. He could not help but let the tune and words quietly escape from his mouth. Looking in the trees and forest, he was reminded just how beautiful and peaceful they could be. Feeling eyes on him, he turned his head to find Zach quickly look away from him. This boy Zach was strange and indeed, captured the elf's attention.

_I wonder how he knew my voice, not often do I sing. Well, I have every intention of finding out._


End file.
